Someone Else's Fairytale (2 page)

He smiled. “It's once in a lifetime, you know?”

“Don't tell me you're a closet Jason Vanderholt fan?”

 
“Sarcasm?”

 
“Oh, and you were being serious just now?”

 
“Ohmi
gosh!”
Lori shrieked so loud that I had to cover my ears. Not easy with a cup of hot chocolate in one hand.

“Lor-” I said.

But I was cut off by more shrieking up and down the line. I turned and saw that the girls on the other side of us had collapsed. One of them sobbed. The other just shook. “I love you!” someone shouted.

Lori dropped to her knees.

“Uh,” said Matthew. He knelt down next to her. “You all right?”

Tears streamed down her cheeks and she shook like a leaf in a windstorm.

“Yes, hi,” said a deep, male voice behind me. “Hello. Yep, sure. How do you spell that?”

“Ohmi
gosh!”
shrieked Lori again.

"You really gotta stop that,” said Matthew.

I turned around, and found myself face to face with Jason Vanderholt. He was just like his publicity shots, blue eyes, tanned skin, toned physique. He looked at me, one eyebrow slightly raised. Around him were several guys with cellphones out. An entourage.

 
“Yeah, hi,” I said.

"Hey. How are you?"
He was wearing a t-shirt and holding a paper cup in one hand, which he raised to his lips. I watched him shake something into his mouth, which he then crunched between his teeth. “It's ice,” he said, with his mouth full.

The sun wasn't up yet and it felt like we were standing in a giant refrigerator. This guy was crazier than Lori.

He gave me a wry smile. “You want some?”

“Aren't you cold?”

“Freezing. Gotta do this between scenes so my breath doesn't steam when I say lines. See?” He was right. His breath did not steam as he spoke.

 
“Fascinating,” I said.

He chuckled. “You look really familiar.”

“Never met you in my life.”

“What's your name?”

“Chloe.”

“Chloe what?”

“Winters.”

His eyes popped wide with recognition. “Like Chris and Beth! Okay, okay, now I know why I recognize you. You're... what? Their cousin? You gotta be related.”

My pulse edged up a notch and I wrapped my jacket more tightly around myself, as if its insulated fabric were an invisibility cloak. “You know Chris Winters?”

“Heck yeah. He was in my class in high school. His dad was my dentist.”

“He was?” My pulse edged up another notch. I felt stupid. I'd gotten after so many other people for making up tenuous connections to this guy that I'd overlooked the fact that he really was from town. Had grown up here and known people.

“Yeah. When I was a kid... Something wrong?”

“No.” I said it too fast. “No, it's just, I don't really know him, his family. I'm not a close relative.”

“Really? But you look so much like Beth.”

I shrugged. “I'll take your word for it.”

“But-”

One of his team of guys put a hand on his arm and said something into his ear. “Okay,” he replied. “Chloe, right?”

I nodded.

He held out a hand. “Jason. Vanderholt.”

“Yeah, I know.”

He grinned as if that was a clever, witty reply. We shook. His hand was like ice, his skin dry. I let go and he moved on down the line.

As soon as he turned his back, I sank down to the ground and gulped the rest of my hot chocolate, which was now almost cold. Lori stared at me with wide eyes. “He knows you?”

“No.”

“Who's Chris Winters?” said Matthew.

I looked at him, then at Lori, then at him again. “I don't want to talk about it. I'm sorry. My family's a little messed up and-”

“Say no more,” said Matthew.

“Thanks.”

“Just, tell me you didn't fall for that Mr. Charming act he pulled?” He nodded in the direction of the actor's retreating figure.

“Was he charming? I guess he knows how to work a crowd.”

Lori cursed. “I didn't get his autograph! Ohmigosh! I can't believe it.”

“What do you want his autograph for?” said Matthew. “What would you get him to sign anyway?”

“He coulda signed this.” She held up her cup. “And what do you mean? It'd be a souvenir.”

“It'd be a dirty cup with writing on it.”

I loved how literal Matthew was.

“What?” Lori snapped.

But by now the line was moving. The woman who'd yelled at us to line up, was now yelling at us to move into the anthropology building. “We've got food set out for you in the first room on the left,” she announced.

Lori pulled out her compact and checked her makeup.

I drained the last dregs of my hot chocolate and tossed the cup into the nearest trash can.

This is what I did for my big film debut. I stood around in short sleeves at five in the morning with a bunch of other people next to the anthropology building. And I did that for over an hour. Every little while someone would shout, “Quiet on the set!” and several minutes later, “Cut!”

We could start talking after every “Cut!” and at least they didn't make us chew ice. Goosebumps stood out all along my arms and I wished I hadn't had my hair cut the week before. I could've used more warmth on the back of my neck.

The camera and crew were a good thirty yards away, as were the actors in the scene. I wasn't near the front of the crowd, so I couldn't really see what the actors were doing, or who they even were. Besides Jason Vanderholt, the film starred Corey Cassidy, a blond, former model turned actress. Supposedly the two were a hot couple, involved in real life. Lori had told me this. I didn't read tabloids.

“I really feel like I'm growing, artistically,” I said to Matthew.

He smirked at me. “Working on your irony?”

“How do you know I'm not serious?”

“This is so cool,” said Lori.

“If you say so,” I said.

“Quiet on the set!”

I looked over at Matthew again, who was smiling down at me. He didn't look cold. He'd had the foresight to wear long sleeves.

“Cut. That's a wrap!” someone shouted.

“Okay, okay, okay!” yelled the woman who'd been herding us all morning. “Everyone I've asked to stay, please stay. The rest of you are free to go.”

I tromped with the rest of the crowd back inside. “That was really glamorous,” I said. I glanced at my watch. It wasn't even seven yet.

Standing at the doorway of the catering area was a guy with spiky blond hair and all dark clothing. At the sight of me he said, “Chloe Winters?”

“Yeah.”

“Come with me.”

I glanced around. The yelling woman had made it crystal clear that we weren't allowed to wander.

“It's okay,” the guy said. “Just come with me.”

Lori and Matthew and I exchanged glances. Matthew frowned at the guy, but didn't say anything.

I stepped away from the crowd and followed Mr. Spiky Blond Hair back out of the building. “I'm Dave,” he said.

“Hi.”

“So did you have fun this morning?”

“Sure.”

“You been an extra before?”

“Nope.”

“Dave!” Someone called out.

We both turned, to see a guy standing at the far corner of the building, but Dave pointed at me and the guy put up both hands and turned away, as if amused. “He need you?” I asked.

“No, it's fine. Come on.”

We cut across the lawn in the direction of the parking lot, where row upon row of trailers were parked. The sun was just over the horizon, washing the campus in pale, gold light. The stucco walls of all the surrounding buildings glowed as if lit from inside.

“It is a pretty town,” Dave agreed. He'd seen my wistful gaze.

Another woman in a headset stepped out from between the trailers, saw me and Dave, and smirked, as if to herself. When she caught me looking at her, she shook her head and kept walking.

Dave and I stepped into the shadow of the trailers and walked around the first one to the door.
 
“Go on in,” he said.

I looked askance at him.

“It's fine.” He pulled it open.

I stepped up the stairs and inside, seated on a couch with his feet up, was Jason Vanderholt, reading a magazine. “Hey,” he said. “Come on in.”

I looked around again. He'd just summoned me here? Alone? Dave hadn't come in with me and I had the feeling he'd shut the door behind me once I took another step forward. The amused looks from the other crew now took on a new context.

“No thanks,” I said. I turned to leave.

But a crowd of men cut off my path and boxed me in by the stairs. It was Vanderholt's entourage from this morning. They made a wall of black t-shirts and muscle that stood between me and freedom. “Let me go, please,” I said. I tried to elbow through, but one of them grabbed my arm in a grip like a vise.

“Miss?” said one of the men to me. “You can't just walk around-”

“I'm not trying to wander around the set,” I snapped. “I'm supposed to be back with the extras. Do you mind?” I tried to push past again and the grip on my arm tightened. “Let me go!” I shouted.

“Guys, guys!” That was Jason Vanderholt, stumbling down the steps behind me. “Back off.”

“Look,” I rounded on him. “I don't know you. I don't know why you summoned me like this, and this-” I gestured at his goons "-is not okay. Let me leave."

“Right, sorry.” He spread his hands. “Guys, back off. Come on. Don't block her in like that. Give her space.”

“Is there a problem, Mr. Vanderholt?” Another woman in a headset appeared in the crowd that had gathered. “Is this woman-”

“No,” he said. “No, and call me Jason, will you?”

My outburst had caused a flurry of commotion. More people were pouring into this lane between the trailers. The sky was pale blue overhead and the sound of traffic on the main road had picked up.

“Is this woman causing problems?” another man asked.

“No,” said Jason. “This is Chloe. She's a friend and I was just going to walk her back to... wherever she needs to go.” He looked at me, one eyebrow raised.

“I just need to get my things from where the extras were, and then leave,” I said.

“Okay, let me walk you. It's okay, everyone, move along.” He came over to put a hand on my arm, turned me back in the direction of the anthropology building, and we started on our way.

The crowd stayed behind. I could feel their gazes boring into the back of my skull. Now that all the excitement was over, the embarrassment set in. “I'm sorry,” I said. “I hope I didn't just get you in trouble.” My face burned hot. I'd just behaved as if he'd propositioned me, when he hadn't even said two words. He probably thought I was the most presumptuous, ridiculous girl he'd ever met.